


Greatest Almost

by runicmagitek



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Drabble Sequence, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Kiss, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Rough Sex, Secret Relationship, Treat, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25366783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/pseuds/runicmagitek
Summary: He paused at one point, though. His silhouette in the darkness loomed overhead. His lips ghosted her own and a decadent chill raced through Ashe.“Is this alright, Your Majesty?” he whispered.Before they part ways, Ashe confronts Basch—for many reasons. And once she starts, slowing down ceases to be an option.
Relationships: Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca/Basch fon Ronsenburg
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [owlmoose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/gifts).



The Bahamut fell and Rabanastre was safe. That alone should have eased Ashe’s anxiety, yet she paced the palace’s halls and balled her hands into fists. For everything she was willing to sacrifice to protect her kingdom, nothing prepared her for what transpired upon fleeing the Bahamut.

And now she had no need to travel with sky pirates or orphans; the throne was empty and awaited her return. How long would it be until the general public discovered she was alive? How long after then would her coronation take place?

How long until her journey was forgotten, just like her companions?

Vaan and Penelo returned to the streets. Ashe liked to think Fran and Balthier were still alive somehow, despite the atrocious crash landing. As for Basch? He stayed in the palace. At least temporarily. Because Larsa was present. Because his brother—not Gabranth, but Noah—needed a proper send-off. Because there never was a home for him to return to.

_When will he leave, too?_ she wondered.

She recalled the lingering animosity when they had first reunited, back on the Dreadnought Leviathan. Only in hindsight did she realize it was never between them, but entirely within herself. How she struck him down, how she spat poison at him. And the softness in his eyes… it never changed. Not then, not aboard the Strahl en route to Rabanastre.

It was in the gentle touch of his hand on her shoulder.

Ashe almost laughed at herself. Of course she was blind to his tenderness until the last moment.

When he and Larsa finally emerged from a guest room, they announced their decision to return to Archadia and restore the Empire to its former glory. But it was Basch’s decision, the one to assume Noah’s guise as Judge Magister, which paralyzed Ashe.


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you think you're _doing_?” she scolded him in the hallways. Instead of retreating to her chambers after a silent dinner, she pursued Basch.

He paused and turned to face her. There it was again—the gentle gaze he only shared for her.

“I made my brother a promise,” he explained, his voice above a hush. “I must fulfill it.”

“After everything the Empire has done—”

“We will make amends. What other choice do we have?”

Ashe scoffed lightly and shook her head. “People will discover who you truly are. Do you wonder if they will accept you as their Judge Magister, then?”

His eyes fell from hers briefly and her heart leaped into her throat.

“I have no other choice, your Majesty. I must ensure Larsa is protected and guided down the proper path.”

“And you’re willing to abandon everything else for that?”

Basch knitted his brows. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, I don’t understand—”

“Stop it!” She hated how her voice cracked in the empty hallway, how tears blurred her vision, how she waited too long to realize a day without him eviscerated her soul. “Don’t address me like I’m your queen when you are leaving behind the life you once had here.”

Again he looked elsewhere. “After everything I’ve done… to your family, to this kingdom.” He licked his lips, the motion almost lost to the sparse torchlights. “To _you_.” Basch shifted his weight and pivoted away. “I cannot heal that scar. But you are safe now and Dalmasca is better without their kingslayer.”

Ashe latched onto his shirt, jerked him back to center, and closed the distance between them. He hitched his breath as their tense bodies collided. It’s not how she envisioned their first kiss, but he exhaled and parted his lips.

And he stayed.


	3. Chapter 3

Between hard kisses and gasps for air, she guided Basch to her chambers. At some point, she fell onto her bed with his lips exploring her neck and clavicle and stomach and whatever else was exposed in her current attire. The events of the day and those to come faded from her thoughts as nothing but Basch thrummed in her being.

He paused at one point, though. His silhouette in the darkness loomed overhead. His lips ghosted her own and a decadent chill raced through Ashe.

“Is this alright, Your Majesty?” he whispered.

Another time and perhaps it wouldn’t be. Then again, perhaps they should have considering it sooner—something to release the constant tension on their journeys. But words escaped Ashe while Basch locked eyes with her. She answered him with a hungry kiss, nipping his lower lip with her teeth. A moan rolled through him in reply and Ashe smiled against him.

With each discarded article of clothing, he traced her revealed skin with his lips, as if drinking her in. A slow, yet mindful motion, which left Ashe whimpering and wiggling. Her body burned and screamed for more. She clawed his clothed form and almost tore the fabric from the seams. Basch simply chuckled into her nude body. As her patience grew threadbare, she tumbled with Basch until she secured him beneath her.

“Don’t be gentle with me,” she murmured, straddling his lap and rubbing herself against him.

“Is that an order, Your Majesty?”

His low, smooth voice mimicked the hand skimming the length of her back. She couldn’t help but tremble.

“Yes,” she moaned out, loving how he throbbed against her, hot and eager as she was. “Yes, it is.”

For all the gentleness he bestowed upon her, nothing was gentle once he thrust into Ashe.


	4. Chapter 4

She jerked her head back, cried out into the night, and relished how he pumped into her without hesitation. Hands clung to her hips, nails dug into her skin. Teeth grazed her neck, occasionally sinking in to elicit a yelp. Ashe steadied herself over him, matching his rapid, relentless pace. Moans gushed out every instance their hips met—from both of them.

He did well to obey her. Whether it was the marks on her neck and nipples or the burning sensation from her hair being yanked or her rear being smacked, sharp needles pricked her body, soon to be replaced with warm pleasure. Ashe smirked amidst it all; leave it to a knight to be obedient and thorough.

The lust blinded her when they tumbled together, sheets caught in their forms. She trusted Basch as he repositioned her onto her stomach and propped up by several pillows, even if it meant slipping out of her momentarily. Her disappointed whines shifted to sharp moans once he resumed fucking her.

Strong hands pinned her down, though she willingly tilted her hips back for just the right angle. Every time he filled her to the hilt and stroked her precisely, Ashe gasped into a pillow. The sensation alone overwhelmed her, but it was the open-mouth kisses on her neck and his insatiable moans in her ears which teetered her towards the edge.

She whimpered for more, begging him to not stop. Even when her muscles spasmed and she screamed his name between breaths, Basch bucked his hips with fervor until he joined her in the afterglow.

Their breaths and pulses slowed, yet Basch never pulled away. He collapsed next to Ashe and pulled her into him. As exhaustion claimed her, she focused on his tender embrace, hoping he would never let go.


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight stretched across the bed and warmed Ashe’s face, but it was the arm around her which sobered her awake.

She smiled at Basch sleeping soundly behind her. He hadn’t strayed an inch since they exhausted one another.

And she didn’t _want_ to move from that spot next to him.

Fingertips traced his forearm. Gradually, her lips curved down while her mind wandered, imagining a world where they didn’t live separate lives.

His body shifted eventually. His lips found a home at her neck, soft and slow. Ashe squeezed her eyes shut and ignored the tears prickling to the surface.

“You leave this morning, yes?” she asked.

Basch stilled. “Yes.”

“Are you certain of this? Being the Judge Magister… it’s dangerous.”

“Not any more dangerous than what we’ve experienced.”

She couldn’t tell if he meant their journey or last night. The latter brought blush to her cheeks.

“I don’t wish for you to go,” Ashe whispered, squeezing his arm for emphasis. “I don’t want _this_ , whatever it is between us, to end.”

He held her tighter and nestled into her neck. His breath tickled her skin, but it was his voice that flooded her with goosebumps.

“It doesn’t have to, if that is what you wish. I swear my life to you as well as Larsa. I may not be able to stay here with you, but the distance won’t sway me. We will cross paths again, Your Majesty.”

A bitter smirk tugged at her lips. “I may be queen by then. Sharing midnight meetings might stir unrest within Dalsmasca. There is no place for a queen and a judge together.”

He slipped fingers beneath her chin and brought her face to his. Ajar lips brushed over hers, uttering one last thing before locking, “Then we best not get caught.”


	6. Chapter 6

Basch left the room first. Once her handmaids arrived to assist with bathing and dressing, Ashe departed for the throne room. The thin layers of silk and lace wrapping her form left Ashe feeling nude; she yearned for her sword and armor more than ever.

It didn’t help when she arrived to bid farewell to her guests… Basch’s eyes drank her in as if she donned nothing.

She escorted them to the airship dock, exchanged diplomatic words to secure their peace, and smiled despite longing to scream. Her attention strayed to Basch more often than she wanted to admit. Each instance, he locked sights with her, the look alone as intense as every little thing he did to make her scream his name last night.

Swallowing hard, Ashe ignored the swelling heat between her legs. But to ignore Basch in their final moment before drifting apart… she couldn’t fathom the notion.

“Dalmasca is in safe hands,” he said while Larsa boarded the passenger airship. “Next we meet, I imagine the kingdom will blossom enough that I won’t recognize it.”

Ashe chewed her lower lip briefly, fidgeting her hands over one another. “You’re too kind.”

He eased a hand between her anxious fingers and lifted them to his lips. The soft kiss against her knuckles rendered Ashe breathless.

“I speak only the truth, Your Majesty,” he murmured into her skin.

“Then tell me,” she said, her voice skittering in her throat, “that we will meet again.” Ashe curled her fingers into his and dared to step into him. “That you will not forget me.”

He stood unyielding, like always. “We will and I will not.”

Another sharp inhale, and then, “Promise me?”

With a final, tender squeeze, Basch released her, bowed, and boarded the airship. But not without uttering, “I promise.”


End file.
